the Act are severe. A first citation on less serious violations may or may not involve a penalty. However, if penalties are assessed, according to the International Labor Review, they range up to as much as $1000 for each violation. In addition, penalties of up to $10,000 per violation may be levied for cases of repeated or willful violation. If an employer should fail to correct a violation within the period of time specified by the citation, he or she may be charged up to $1000 for each day that the business continues to be in violation of the standard.
Covering an estimated 60 million workers and 5 million employers, ranging from giant corporations to the smallest businesses, OSHA took effect on April 28, 1971. A month later. standards were announced and overnight a 248 page book (bow up to more than 450 pages) was produced which "touched on such things as the sizes of ladders, protective screening against atomic radiation, and safety nets for bridge builders."
But all has not gone well for OSHA. In fact, "almost every phase of the law's implementation has stirred controversy," says a columnist for U.S. News and World Report. "It has embittered employees as well as employers. Some detractors call OSHA 'a four-letter obscenity.'"
One complaint about OSHA is fundamental: its lack of understandability. "This Act," says Representative Mark Andrews (Rep.) of North Dakota, "is an outstanding example of what happens to a piece of legislation when the bureaucrats get it." The standards which have been set under OSHA, suggests Robert D. Moran, Chairperson of the OSHA Review Committee, are "'riddles wrapped in mysteries inside enigmas.' They don't give the employer even a nebulous suggestion of what it is he (or she) should do to protect his (or her) employees from whatever-it-is, also left unexplained, which represents a hazard to their safety and health." Standards have been left to the employer to guess at and f...